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Hello. I was at a bay city dispensary the other day and they were telling me their is a 10 ounce a month limit with all dispensaries. Is this true? Was just curious cause i havent hear anything about this?

Just came from old 27 wellness in Lansing. I was told the might have to close tonight? Was also told by other dispensaries in bay city they will be closing?? I thought most got their license? Why is everyone closing?
Did i miss something?

Congress Puts Stop to War on Medical Marijuana with Protections Amendment
Dec 15, 2014
On Saturday, Senate approved a $1.1 trillion spending package to keep the government running. Tucked away in that package was an amendment that will block the Department of Justice from arresting or prosecuting anyone who sells or uses medical marijuana in the 34 states that have some form of medical marijuana law on record.
This will stop the DOJ from conducting raids on medical marijuana dispensaries and stop them from arresting individuals involved in the medical marijuana industry who are complying with state law.
The new amendment also has protections for industrial hemp.
President Obama is expected to approve the bill. Once he does, the new amendment has the potential to impact a number of pending cases against medical marijuana business owners and patients who have been targeted by the federal government despite complying with local and state laws.
“When the House first passed this measure back in May, we made headlines; today we made history,” Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.), who in May introduced the medical marijuana protections amendment with co-sponsor Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), told The Huffington Post regarding the bill’s passage.
“The federal government will finally respect the decisions made by the majority of states that passed medical marijuana laws,” Farr added. “This is great day for common sense because now our federal dollars will be spent more wisely on prosecuting criminals and not sick patients.”
A statement issued by Americans for Safe Access following the spending bill’s passage Saturday called the measure “historic” and said patients’ rights advocates believe it “will dramatically impact DOJ enforcement, including ending federal medical marijuana raids, arrests, criminal prosecutions, and civil asset forfeiture lawsuits.”

CITY HALL — The city's first medical marijuana cultivation center is one step closer to operating.
The Zoning Board of Appeals took the first step toward approving a Chicago cultivation center for medical marijuana Friday, passing a proposal from a city trucking and strip-club magnate.
The board approved a special-use permit for a proposed cultivation center in Hegewisch put forward by Custom Strains, owned by Perry Mandera, who also owns the Custom Companies trucking and Cardinal Fitness firms, as well as VIP's, which touts itself as the city's only "full liquor and topless bar," at 1531 N. Kingsbury St.
In a marathon session that ran from the morning into the evening, the board also approved a permit for a Custom Strains dispensary for medical marijuana at 1105 W. Fulton Market, over some community resistance.
The two facilities still must earn state approval as Illinois implements the medical-marijuana law passed last year. The city will have a maximum of one cultivation center and 13 dispensaries.
The cultivation center was the first to earn a special-use permit. It would be located on an eight-acre site at 12233 S. Avenue O, between Wolf Lake and the Calumet River, but also near Interstates 90, 94 and 57. It would produce an estimated 4,500 pounds of medical marijuana a year, as well as processing it into topical oil and edible forms for ease of use by patients.
Mandera testified Friday that he was bringing in experts experienced in the field from Colorado and Michigan, where medical marijuana has long been legal, to run the center, and that his own background in trucking would aid in distribution to dispensaries.
The board was somewhat squeamish in approving its first permit for a cultivation center.
"If I had sticky fingers ... how does the system catch me?" Chairman Jonathan Swain said. "That's my largest concern."
Brett Roper, of Colorado's Medicine Man Technologies, testified that the Bio Track system follows plants from seedlings to finished product with weights down to the gram and beyond. "You typically know pretty quickly," Roper said, if there's any "pilferage."
Perry Mandera (center) listens to Hunter Sutterfield (l.) testify at Friday's Zoning Board of Appeals meeting.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Ted Cox
Robert Gedville, of Guardian Security Systems, said the facility would have 110 surveillance cameras, linked to the State Police and the state Department of Agriculture.
Earlier in the day, Mandera testified that he has run Custom Companies since 1986 and Cardinal Fitness 21 years. He acknowledged he owns a business with a liquor license and a public entertainment license, but never mentioned it was a strip club, and the board never raised the issue. He said he had never been arrested or convicted of a crime, and has never had a business fail or filed for bankruptcy for any business.
Mandera said that, if the dispensary were approved, he'd offer a 10 percent discount for veterans on all medical marijuana. Mandera said he served in the Marine Corps.
Hunter Sutterfield, who would be brought in from running a dispensary in Tempe, Ariz., to handle the operation, testified that prices were typically $50 for an eighth of an ounce or or 3.5 grams, $20-$30 for a gram, consistent with "street value" by state statute.
The "intent," they said, was to use the Custom Strains cultivation center if approved.
The cultivation center had the support of Ald. John Pope (10th), but the Fulton Market dispensary met some public resistance before it won approval from the board.
Six dispensaries' permits were approved Friday, including a permit for a Jefferson Park facility, as well as dispensaries at 4568 S. Archer Ave., 5648 S. Archer Ave., 2723 N. Elston Ave. and 500 W. 18th St. The board denied a permit for a Wicker Park dispensary at 1811 W. North Ave. after questioning the applicants on what Swain called "subjective" security arrangements.

Hi,
I'm new to medical marijuana (currently waiting for my card), and am seeking clarification on the legal status of dispensaries operating in Michigan.
I was under the impression that all MI dispensaries were forced to shut down under the threat of prosecution (as "public nuisances") some time ago.
However, I was driving through Mesick recently and came across what appeared to be a dispensary operating in plain sight (marijuana leaf on the sign and everything).
How are they able to operate openly when so many others have closed? Is this type of dispensary safe for a patient to use?

An Oakland County Judge ruled last month that selling marijuana to an undercover police officer posing as a Medical Marijuana Patient is entrapment. The nine page opinion ordered the charges against the six defendants be dismissed finding the case in which she presided is no different than providing a fraudulent prescription to a pharmacist.
The facts are relatively straight forward. An undercover officer called a Southfield dispensary and asked what he needed to obtain marijuana from the dispensary. The detective was told that he needed to bring proof that he was a registered patient under the MMMA (Section 4) or, proof that a doctor had stated that he had a debilitating condition and would benefit from the use of medical marijuana, along with proof of his application for registration and payment of the $100 registration fee—presumably to insure the detective would fit under Section 8 of the MMMA. The detective then falsified the medical marijuana paperwork and presented them to the dispensary employees. The detective also signed a membership agreement where he stated in part, that he was not seeking to become a member for any illegal or fraudulent purpose. A search warrant was authorized and the dispensary was raided by the police.
The Court, based on the conduct of the officer, ordered the charges get dismissed. Michigan follows the objective test of entrapment. That means that court will look to the investigative and evidence gathering procedures of the officers—and not the predisposition of the individual committing the alleged crime. To successfully assert an entrapment defense, the defendant must show the court by a preponderance of the evidence, or by 51% or more that there was an abuse of authority and the criminal acts were instigated by the police. The court, in ordering the charges get dismissed stated “[t]here can be little question that the actions of the police induced the commission of this crim. In fact, the actions of the police are the only reason the actions of the defendants constitute a crime.
It is unclear whether this case will be appealed by the Oakland County Prosecuting Attorney but, given the stance of that county’s prosecutor’s office, it would appear that an Appeal is likely.
Newburg Law, PLLC have represented a number of dispensary employees across the state of Michigan. It is important that someone facing delivery of marijuana charges to an officer or even a confidential informant determine whether entrapment is a defense in their case. You can contact us at (517) 505-2323.
http://www.onmedicalmarijuana.com/2014/03/03/selling-marijuana-to-undercover-patient-is-entrapment/

March 13, 2014 | Leave a comment
As of right now there is only one medical marijuana dispensary criminal case that has been outright dismissed without the possibility of the case being recharged, or of an
appeal reversing the dismissal decision – and that case is our case.
Unfortunately, per the agreement with the State, many of the details are sealed. However, I can divulge that our client was an owner and operator of a medical marijuana
dispensary in Southeastern Michigan. That dispensary was raided by police and ultimately our client was charged with felonies for distribution of marijuana.
We held the preliminary examination and ultimately, armed with the transcripts from that examination, we set about the task of writing nearly 100 pages of motions and
briefs.
As soon as we sent over the motions and briefs to the prosecutor’s office, they called us and waived the white flag. The case didn’t even get out of the District Court. No
appeals, no re-charging. Just the complete DISMISSAL of a felony case against a medical marijuana dispensary.
THE TASTE OF VICTORY IS SWEET!
http://neilrockindpcblog.com/2014/03/13/medical-marijuana-dispensary-dismissal/

One of many maddeningly absurdities of the War in Drugs is how we treat the people who were once “criminals” when their past activities are no longer “crimes.”
Consider the marijuana prisoners in Washington and Colorado. There will be men and women serving time -- not just federal, but state time -- for cultivating marijuana plants, processing, transporting and selling them as part of a commercial marijuana operation. Meanwhile, already in Colorado and soon in Washington, men and women will be licensed to legally cultivate marijuana plants, process, transport and sell them as part of a commercial marijuana operation.
Eddy Lepp currently sits in a federal prison in Colorado for doing what is going on in countless Denver warehouse grows.
Some might make the argument that those activities were illegal in the past and those men and women need to serve their time. Why? What is the purpose of their continued incarceration, to send a message to never grow and sell marijuana again? What is the net societal gain in taxpayer funding of the continued incarceration of successful illegal marijuana cultivators and sellers who could be contributing members of society, paying taxes by legally cultivating and selling marijuana?
The further you dig into this rabbit hole the more absurd it becomes. Did you know almost all the 21 medical marijuana states ban someone who has been busted for growing marijuana from becoming medical caregivers and working in or owning a dispensary? In many cases, the person was busted for a personal grow and many of those were for medical purposes before any medical marijuana laws existed. Where is the logic in banning some of the best medical growers in a state from helping sick people because they were helping sick people before it was legal? Don’t we want to encourage good growers to follow the law rather than forcing them to make their living illegally?
Apparently not, if this latest press release from my friend Lynnette Shaw is any indication. I met Lynnette many summers ago at some cannabis event. She was fierce and brash and ebullient as she joined me for a podcast interview, explaining about her work with the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana (MAMM), one of the first dispensaries to help those who were now called “medical marijuana patients” in 1997 just after California passed the Compassionate Use Act.
I remember Lynnette’s zeal to fight Uncle Sam on the medical marijuana issue. She had such hope and determination and just knew that with the right legal strategy, an eye on the Constitution, and proper education of elected officials, she and the rest of the Bay Area medical marijuana community could change the world… and they did!
But not without great personal cost. The feds attacked Lynnette and MAMM with every alphabet soup agency in their drug war arsenal. The feds went after MAMM’s building’s landlord and had it seized through asset forfeiture. The IRS, treating her like Al Capone, used tax law to bankrupt her, even seizing her Social Security. The courts, to heap insult upon injury, then declared she was banned for life from working in, consulting for, or selling to any legal cannabis business.
Understand that for over a decade, Lynnette was working with city and county officials, trying to stay well within California’s state laws and guidelines, paying taxes and getting business licenses, and was generally considered by patients, officials and neighbors to be operating a top-notch facility, a standard-bearer for what legal, regulated medical marijuana in California could be.
The Lynnette I saw at the most recent event was humbled and contrite, cautious and weary. But even after all her work helping patients has been rewarded with personal devastation, she still keeps fighting to get back into her passion -- helping sick and disabled people. Help support Lynnette Shaw in her fight to remove the lifetime injunction that is unjust and cruel, unnecessarily burdens patients, and essentially leaves her without a career.
FOUNDER OF FIRST LICENSED DISPENSARY IN NATION TO FILE FOR RELIEF FROM FEDERAL CIVIL INJUNCTION LYNNETTE SHAW, ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE MEDICAL CANNABIS DISPENSARY SYSTEM, HAS LIFE SENTENCE BARRING HER FROM PARTICIPATION.
Lynnette Shaw created the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Fairfax California in 1997. It was the first legal/licensed/registered/taxpaying medical cannabis dispensary in the country. It operated trouble-free, working closely with local police and Town/County/State officials, until the Federal Government closed it down in Dec. 2011.
"My top notch legal team advises me that the time is right to seek dissolution of my Federal permanent civil injunction that is cruel, unusual and unique." stated Lynnette Shaw. "I fought like a wildcat from the Delta to preserve our patients' rights for over 15 years. The Feds finally crushed MAMM by instituting a forfeiture action against our landlord. They set every enforcement agency against me including the IRS. The IRS retroactively removed my tax deductions after 15 years then zeroed out my Social Security. I am bankrupt.
"However, the Town of Fairfax is willing to stand up for all the work I did for over 15 years. They want me back! More importantly, our members need the return of MAMM. I have no husband or children, no relatives close by. The patients were my family. All I am asking is to be able to return to work for the many patients here in Marin that have nowhere to turn for medical cannabis. I deserve to be allowed to serve the community again, after protecting everyone except myself from the Feds and going down with the ship, in the name of love and compassion.
“I am informed that since MAMM closed, County health facilities are inundated with seriously ill patients who no longer have access to medical cannabis which they had used successfully to treat their symptoms. As well, I am informed that there has been a proliferation of street-drug dealers in Marin since MAMM was closed. Of course, these drug dealers are unregulated, as are their wares.
“There are currently thousands of licensed dispensaries in 21 states operating successfully. My time to be freed has come.
“We intend to ask Judge Breyer to dissolve the injunction in the name of public interest and my Constitutional rights. There is a good future in legal medical marijuana. I am interviewing potential business partners/investors/donors who wish to see the recovery of the Marin Alliance and its time-tested and successful dispensary system." http://www.hightimes.com/read/pioneering-dispensary-owner-barred-life

Chicago Mayor Introduces Plan for Medical Marijuana Restrictions
On Tuesday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced a plan that would limit where medical marijuana dispensaries and growing operations would be allowed to open once the new bill goes into effect January 1.
Under Emanuel’s proposal, there would be special use permits from the Zoning Board of Appeals that would have to be issued to each dispensary or grow. Additionally, the plan would limit the number of collectives allowed in the city of Chicago and only let them operate in manufacturing districts.
Alderman Edward Burke worked on the plan with the mayor. He explained, “We regulate everything from liquor licenses to how many residences may be built above a certain height, so it makes sense to give Chicago residents some control over where these types of operations can be located.”
[Source]

World's First Recreational MJ Sales License Issued Colorado -- The world's first recreational marijuana retail license was granted to a dispensary in Colorado this week -- so start saving up, because the Rocky Mountain High will soon be for sale.
Annie's, located in the mountain and gambling town of Central City, was the recipient of the historic license and posted this on their Facebook page earlier this week to celebrate: The Central City pot shop is owned by Strainwise, which owns eight dispensaries in Colorado and hopes all eight shops are approved for the recreational license, according to Westword. Read More...

Companies Vying For Right To Grow Med Marijuana
Connecticut -- In the basement of his Bridgeport tank removal business, Joseph Palmieri opens the door to a shipping container. A very bright light pours out and reveals hundreds of tomato plants. Near the beginning of the new year, Palmieri hopes to fill the growing pod, which he says is his own invention, with marijuana plants.
"I always joked about it when I heard that it went legal in other places. I said when it goes legal here, that'll be my new crop and build the business," he said. "Then I got serious about it, and flew out to Colorado." Read More...

Judge Nixes MMJ Users Right To Grow Their Own
Phoenix -- Medical marijuana users have no constitutional right to grow their own drug, a trial judge has ruled.
Judge Katherine Cooper of Maricopa County Superior Court threw out a challenge by two men to a provision in the 2010 voter-approved Arizona Medical Marijuana Act that says only those living farther than 25 miles from a state-regulated dispensary can cultivate the plants. She said there is no basis for their claim that the provision limits their health-care rights. Read More...

OK I'm new here and I know nothing about Marijuana. I have a caregiver but I'm out of town and have a question. I stopped into a dispensary and bought some product called co2 oil. It comes in a syringe type container and is listed as ndica 90/10 blueberry.thc 68.42cbn1. I was told to put a drop about 1/2 the size of a grain of rice on my finger and eat it.
It taste nasty and I have had mixed results. The first time I tried it I was not able to sleep and thats a ongoing issue with me so I repeated a few hors latter and a again around 3 am. I went to sleep but was still stoned in the morning and felt sick.
Is there a better way to use this product. I use a vaporizer now and get ok relief from pain but still can't get a full nights sleep.
I should have asked more questions when I bought this liquid product but to late now. Any help here would be helpful. I will get on the forum and introduce myself latter.

Colorado Medical Marijuana Dispensary Owner Indicted
A Colorado grand jury has indicted medical marijuana dispensary owner Colin Hoskins and 11 of his associates on allegations that they ran three medical marijuana dispensaries as a front for an investment scam and an illegal marijuana growing operation.
The 11 associates include Hoskins’ business partners, a marijuana grower, a lawyer, and a doctor. The twelve people named face various charges including marijuana cultivation and distribution, money laundering, racketeering, securities fraud, forgery, attempt to influence a public servant, and tax evasion.
Carolyn Tyler, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office, said the indictment was the result of “the careful oversight of the Department of Revenue and tight coordination between state agencies.
Hoskins’ attorney claims that he has strictly followed Colorado state law. He explained, “The attorney general’s indictment is full of tortured and baseless allegations and it contrary in many respects to the plain language and protections provided by Amendment 20. Mr. Hoskins denies these charges and looks forward to presenting his defenses in court.”
Hoskins is the owner of three medical marijuana dispensaries– All Care Wellness Centers, Higher Health Medical, and Jane Medicals. The indictment alleges that Hoskins and an attorney, childhood friend Dallan Dirkmaat, solicited investments in the dispensaries then diverted the money into other uses, such as paying off personal debts.
Additionally, the indictment states that Hoskins conspired with a marijuana grower to illegally grow marijuana in the basement of a home. Marijuana from the illegal home grow was then sold at Jane Medicals.
The indictment alleges that the marijuana was sold to both legal medical marijuana patients as well as individuals without medical marijuana recommendations.
“Mr. Hoskins possessed knowledge of this and encouraged Jane Medicals, LLC employees to omit certain sales and understate these sales in the point of sales computer system to evade taxes and to avoid both the recording of illegal sales and the underreporting of sales and sales taxes to the Colorado Department of Revenue,” the indictment alleges.
The indictment also charges a doctor, 34-year-old Gerald Searle, another childhood friend of Hoskins, with having an unlawful relationship with a dispensary. Colorado law prohibits doctors from receiving anything of value from dispensaries.
According to the indictment, Hoskins paid the rent on Searle’s medical office in exchange for Searle writing medical-marijuana recommendations to patients and referring them to Hoskins’ dispensary, which was around the corner.
[Source]

Restrictive new ordinance passes 4-1, sharply limits sites where dispensaries may locate
Ordinance will make it harder for patients like Rudy Reyes, a Cedar Fire victim burned over 60% of his body, to obtain medical marijuana.“Virtually all of them are either undeveloped land, cement factories, mining operations, even land that’s zoned for treatment of radioactive materials,” -- Kate Valentine of Americans for Safe Access
July 2, 2010 (San Diego) – A restrictive new ordinance passed Wednesday by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors will sharply limit locations where medical marijuana dispensaries are allowed and make it extremely costly for operators. The measure passed by a four-to-one vote. Supervisor Ron Roberts cast the lone dissenting vote.
“I think we’re violating the spirit of the law,” said Roberts, referring to the ballot initiative approved by California voters 14 years ago to legalize medical marijuana.
The new regulations limit dispensaries to industrial zones and require an armed license, video monitoring and license fees of up to $20,000. Supervisor Dianne Jacob introduced an amendment which further restricts allowable locations by increasing minimum distance between dispensaries and homes from a proposed 500 feet to 1,000 feet, as well as raising distances from churches, parks and schools from 600 to 1,000 feet. These are the same distances required for strip clubs.
County planners contend that there are at least 15 potential sites that could meet those guidelines, including areas near Gillespie Field and the Ramona Airport, as well as freeway-close locations in Alpine, Borrego Springs, Campo, and Julian.
But there’s a big catch.
“Virtually all of them are either undeveloped land, cement factories, mining operations, even land that’s zoned for treatment of radioactive materials,” said Kate Valentine of Americans for Safe Access, a group that supports access for medical marijuana patients.
There are no buildings on the sites, Valentine added. So add costs of building a new structure to the already steep price of opening a dispensary in the unincorporated area.
Supervisors Pam Slater-Price and Greg Cox acknowledged that patients may have to drive long distances to get their medical marijuana prescriptions filled in cities within the county where permitting is more lenient. Slater-Price cautioned patients to refrain from taking their medications until after they drive home. Supervisor Horn recently expressed frustration that federal law prohibits distribution of medical marijuana in pharmacies.
San Diego’s Board of Supervisors have fought a long battle against medical marijuana access. In 2005, Supervisors Bill Horn, Slater-Price and Jacob voted to oppose a state law that required counties to create medical marijuana registries and issue I.D. cards to patients. The County’s district attorney also helped federal drug agents crack down on dispensaries locally.
Supervisors used taxpayer money to file a lawsuit in 2006 seeking to overturn Proposition 215, the measure passed by both state and county voters a decade earlier. The County lost its case in court but fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which last year refused to consider the County’s appeal.
Critics of medical marijuana dispensaries contend that some are fronts for illicit drug use. Strolling down the boardwalk at Venice beach, the air is redolent with the aroma of weed. A hawker outside a marijuana clinic advises passersby that “the doctor is in.” Several speakers from anti-drug groups asked Supervisors to ban marijuana cooperatives outright, an option that County Counsel has said would not be legal.
Where to strike a balance between reasonable access for patients suffering from cancer or other medical conditions while preventing access to unauthorized individuals remains a bone of contention. At Wednesday’s hearing, numerous medical marijuana patients testified that medical marijuana provided their only source of relief from painful and debilitating symptoms –with fewer side effects than other prescription pain medication options. Medical marijuana is also useful in alleviating nausea among chemotherapy patients.
The County’s new ordinance requires dispensary operators to maintain accurate records of transactions including names and contact information of suppliers. It also prohibits sale of foods or beverages containing marijuana. The clinics would be regulated by the Sheriff, a choice some medical marijuana advocates have also criticized, arguing that the Department of Health and Human Services would be a preferably regulatory entity to have oversight over dispensaries.
“I’m more convinced than ever that what we’re doing is the wrong thing,” said Roberts, who also cast the lone dissenting vote in 2009 against drafting the controversial ordinance. In casting that vote, he stated, “At some point, some of the leaders of this community need to accept that (Proposition) 215 is the law.” Roberts’ opponent in the November election, Steve Whitburn, also supports patients’ access to medical marijuana and opposes the County’s tough new ordinance.
But Jacob insisted that the Board has taken the high road. “What the staff brought before us is the best we can do,” she concluded.
http://eastcountymag...e.org/node/3686
Trix

Ny Times: Arizona Tries To Keep Reins Tight As It Starts Regulating Medical Marijuana
By FERNANDA SANTOS
Published: June 7, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/08/us/arizona-regulates-medical-marijuana-with-reins-tight.html?pagewanted=all
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Soon after health officials announced they would dole out Arizona’s first licenses for medical marijuana dispensaries, Ryan Hurley, co-chairman of the medical marijuana practice at the Rose Law Group here, noticed a common trait among some of the people most eager to enlist his services: They were already in the business in other states.
Mr. McCrady says the medical marijuana laws would be “a legitimate way to keep the competition in check.”
There was a family who owns dispensaries in Washington State. There was an investor from Los Angeles who has a stake in several California dispensaries. There was a disabled Navy veteran who makes a living running a medical marijuana delivery service in San Diego.
Arizona has one of the country’s strictest set of requirements governing the sale of medical marijuana — and, Mr. Hurley said, they were all looking to tap into its market because of that.
“There’s a sense of legitimacy that comes from having so many rules,” he said.
Medical marijuana programs exist in a gray area. They are legal in 17 states and the District of Columbia, but illegal under federal law, where selling and consuming marijuana, even if for therapeutic purposes, is still a crime. It is a risky undertaking: In California, where rules governing the business are particularly lax, medical marijuana ventures have been targets of raids.
In Arizona, it is a costly and cumbersome enterprise.
Dispensaries have to abide by zoning regulations that change from one municipality to the next. Applicants must offer detailed plans on how to secure, store and track the marijuana they hope to sell. They have to offer educational materials, which is standard practice, and hire a medical director to supervise the operation, the only requirement of its kind in the country.
“A physician can get involved in how it’s being used as medicine on a day-to-day basis, and that’s the big kicker here. If you’re going to use cannabis as medicine, you’ve got to be able to understand the science and also apply the science,” said Michael Backes, director of research and development for Abatin, a consultant to three dispensaries in California that have applied to open two more in Arizona.
There is a limit to the number of dispensary licenses the state will give out in this first phase: 126, one for each of the geographic regions carved out by health officials. For the state, it prevents the marijuana business from becoming too expansive, as happened in California and Colorado, before Colorado legislators passed laws to control it. California is still struggling to tighten its rules.
For prospective dispensary operators like Douglas McCrady, a disabled veteran who applied to open two dispensaries in Mesa, a suburb of Phoenix, it is “a legitimate way to keep the competition in check.”
The requirements were cobbled together from other states that health officials here felt were doing things right: rules on inventory control were inspired by those in Colorado and a requirement that doctors analyze 12 months’ worth of medical records before certifying a patient for medical marijuana use was borrowed from New Jersey.
Then there were things they learned from the public, through official and surreptitious means. Will Humble, director of the Arizona Health Services Department, said his staff used a fake Facebook page to monitor the conversation about the state’s medical marijuana program, which is how they got to hear about loopholes they never knew existed.
For example, the state gives preference to people who have $150,000 or more in cash for each dispensary application they file; a bank statement would have sufficed as proof the money was there. But people suggested they would just transfer the money from one bank to another, then use the statements to support different applications.
The state went on to ask applicants to prove the money had been in the bank for at least 30 days, Mr. Humble said.
“There was a fork on the road, really, and to the left would be California, where it’s a free-for-all, where you have a medical marijuana program that’s really a recreational marijuana program,” he said. “We said, look, let’s go to the opposite direction and let’s try to do it right.”
Mr. Humble is, by his own admission, the reluctant leader of a program some say could serve as a model for the country, particularly because of its emphasis on medical supervision. He joined Gov. Jan Brewer in a lawsuit last year, asking federal courts to address the conflict between state and federal laws regarding medical marijuana, but the courts dismissed it. The lawsuit followed a threatening letter from the United States attorney’s office in Arizona, saying that “growing, distributing and possessing marijuana in any capacity” is a violation of federal law, “regardless of state laws that purport to permit such activities.” A 2011 letter from the Justice Department made a similar point.
For two weeks in May, the state accepted its first applications for dispensary licenses; 484 of them were submitted. Mr. Humble’s office built a computerized program, where patients will have to swipe magnetic cards every time they buy marijuana to make sure they do not exceed the maximum allowance of 2.5 ounces every two weeks. Growers must keep records of how much they are growing; delivery trips would generate a record like a moving company’s bill of lading, listing exactly how much was transported and where.
Mr. Humble said the medical directors would make it less likely that dispensaries would “devolve into the type of place where you just come in and get stuff to get stoned.”
Still, he went on, “I don’t want to make it sound like it’s a perfect system, that it’s going to be 100 percent medical, because I know it ain’t.”
Mr. McCrady, who has multiple sclerosis and uses marijuana to treat its symptoms, said he moved to delivering marijuana in San Diego after being served with eviction notices twice at his dispensaries, both times after federal authorities sent letters to landlords directing them to crack down on “drug-dealing tenants,” he said.
He went on, “I was paying taxes, I was trying my best to be legitimate. I served in the Navy, I have no criminal record. Maybe in Arizona I’ll finally be recognized as a business.”
Of the 126 dispensary locations made available by the state, 27 — most of them in Indian country and rural areas — did not receive any applications. Several spots had multiple applicants; Flagstaff, in northern Arizona, received 13 applications.
Winners will be picked in August, by lottery if there is more than one person vying for the same spot.
A version of this article appeared in print on June 8, 2012, on page A15 of the New York edition with the headline: Arizona Tries to Keep Reins Tight as It Starts Regulating Medical Marijuana.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/08/us/arizona-regulates-medical-marijuana-with-reins-tight.html?pagewanted=all
Michael A. Komorn
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Law Office of Michael A. Komorn
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The most relevant radio talk show for the Michigan Medical Marijuana Community. PERIOD.
Attorney Michael Komorn’ practice specializes in Medical Marihuana representation. He is the President of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association (MMMA), a nonprofit patient advocacy group with over 26,000 members, which advocates for medical marihuana patients, and caregiver rights. He is also an experienced defense attorney successfully representing many wrongfully accused medical marihuana patients and caregivers

It's true that Cheboygan has passed a favorable ordinance for dispensing medical cannabis to patients. The ordinance is considered additional enabling language that makes legal dispensing possible within the framework of Initiated Law 1 of 2008 (MCL 333.26421-333.26430).
A group that includes patients, caregivers, investors, and me will be opening a medical cannabis dispensing collective in the City of Cheboygan very soon. Our target date for opening is Memorial Day weekend, and we will be located in a very safe area directly across the street from city hall and the police department. We hope to open as a full service dispensary offering dried cannabis, tinctures, edibles, capsules, and other processed cannabis products that are healthy alternatives to smoking.
We will be available to service all legal Michigan cardholders, as well as those patients from all other medical cannabis states who have proper documentation, but everyone will be required to join the collective before they can acquire any cannabis preparations at our facility.
We are working with local officials to hammer out the final details, but we intend to open a facility that complies with the guidelines outlined by the California Attorney General for the safe operation of medical cannabis dispensaries. That means our facility will be safe with a full security system, and it's employees will have been trained for their positions.
I'll continue to post details as they happen. I hope to see all of you this summer "up north"!
Brad